Hines Ward Super Quotations

We're still a great team. It's one loss. We didn't play particularly well but still had a chance to win the game against the Super Bowl champions. We've got to learn from it and get better, and get a lot of guys healthy and come back and make this 13-game run.

We're here without him. We never made it to this point with him. So, I don't think that we miss him. That was a big question mark coming into this year: What could we do in the passing game? Well, consequently, our passing game is the reason why we're here in the Super Bowl. So, I can't sit there and say that we miss him.

We're happy to be going to the Super Bowl, but we want to win. We plan to go there and win the whole thing.

Making the Super Bowl, you are going to have more media requests. For him, it can be overwhelming. It's even overwhelming for me to look at all (the media) here wanting to ask me questions.

If this is going to be his last year, what better way than to finish his career off where it all started in Detroit? Last year, we were one game short. This year, we're back to that and that's all we ask for is another opportunity. We're in that position to put him back in the Super Bowl.

I can't even begin to tell you how do good this feels ... especially after how our season ended last year. Nobody believed in us except the guys in this locker room. All our hard work has paid off. We're going to the Super Bowl.

If anyone wants to play the respect card, be mad at the people that make the odds, don't be mad at us. I don't know how they can feel disrespected when everybody had them going to the Super Bowl anyway. We feel like we're the underdog. Nobody was talking about us.

Hell, I dropped it. I was too worried about my feet staying in bounds. I took my eyes off the ball. The great ones don't miss balls in the Super Bowl. I still left some plays out on the field.

It has been a heck of a ride. We get the opportunity to go down in history among some of the greatest players. This is what the Super Bowl is all about.

Jerome has just meant so much to us. For him to go out the way he went out (as a Super Bowl champion), if I was retiring and my career was towards the end, that's how I would want to go out.

Jerome has inspired each individual on this team in some form or way. He kind of inspires us to go out and play hard so we can get him that Super Bowl ring and end on a great note.

Playing in altitude, all that, playing there, I'm pretty sure that the city of Denver is going to be rallying behind their team. It's one game away from the Super Bowl. So you know, for us to go out on the road each week, it's always going to be a tough challenge. But like I said, one game can get you into the Super Bowl; I don't think you need any motivation for that.

Those guys made spectacular catches in the Super Bowl. I wanted to be compared to those guys. I never thought I belonged on the list because they had Super bowl rings. You can put me on the list now.

You are based on what you do in the Super Bowl. Those guys had the opportunity to win four Super Bowls, and getting this opportunity is a dream come true for me.

We have to keep the nucleus together, and plug in some new faces, and we'll be fine. One thing about winning a Super Bowl is that everybody wants a player off that Super Bowl team. They're very hot commodities. Unfortunately for our team, you can't pay everybody.

We didn't really plan to go this way. It's been twice I had home-field advantage, and we came up short both times. We're one game away from the Super Bowl. We're right back where we were last year.

We knew it was going to go for a touchdown. The great ones don't drop balls in the Super Bowl, and I want to be considered one of the great ones.

We're not just a one-dimensional team. We can throw the ball down the field. Now we're one game from the Super Bowl, and we're taking the mentality that it's us against the world.

At this point, mentally, the season's been long for both teams. Physically, we're fine. At this point, everybody's banged up. What motivates us is we're one game away from the Super Bowl.

It was all for Jerome. We were going to fight for him. I'm just so happy for him. The way he ended his career, to win a Super Bowl in his own town, is a fairy tale come true.

The Super Bowl tickets, that's the worst headache. I'm glad they gave us the week off. You really need a couple of days. They say you lose family members over the Super Bowl and I can see why because everybody in the family didn't get tickets. They're mad at me now. That's when I realized we were going to the Super Bowl.

It's a book waiting to be written. We're in that position to put him in the Super Bowl. A lot of guys just want to go out and play not only for themselves, but for a guy like Jerome Bettis.

I truly can't believe it. It's a dream come true. As a kid I remember watching Jerry Rice and Joe Montana in the Super Bowl.

For a second-year guy, he's been outstanding. We wouldn't be in the Super Bowl without him.

It's the hardest thing I've ever been through. It's amazing how my season started off with my contract situation, and now I end up with the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. I would have never imagined that it would turn out the way it did.

Nobody believed in us, but we believed in ourselves, and now we're in the Super Bowl. These last three games on the road show a lot about our team and this coaching staff.

No team ever won all three games on the road and won the Super Bowl. Why not try to make history?

I never went into the game saying I wanted to be the Super Bowl MVP. I just went out and played. And everything worked its way out.

He's touched every player in this locker room in some way, somehow. I just didn't want him to go out like that, one game short of the Super Bowl. It's not often you're playing with a Hall of Fame running back, and a Hall of Fame guy, period. I appreciate what he's done for my career, and having him come back and winning a Super Bowl where it all started, I'm glad to help him achieve that.

I don't know how (the Seahawks) can feel disrespected when everybody had them going to the Super Bowl, anyway. We feel like we're the underdog. Nobody was talking about us. For us to do what we have done, people want to jump on the bandwagon now.

I didn't sleep much. I had nerves. It didn't hit me until the second quarter, 'I'm playing in the Super Bowl.' I left some plays out there I usually could make in my sleep. But I have no complaints.

I am at a loss for words. There has been a lot of great MVP's who won the Super Bowl. I am speechless right now. This is truly a dream come true.

The great ones don't miss balls in the Super Bowl. And I want to be considered one of the great ones. To be named MVP is a great honor, but I still left some plays out on the field. I could have had an even better day.